Patrice

Patrice's picture

Biography

About me
Interests: 
Food and culture
Personal Web site: 
Called to the Table
Twitter: 
Patrice Johnson
Column: 
Called to the Table

Polaroid moments in a post-Brady world

By Patrice Johnson, Cultural Construct

There are two Americana indulgences I enjoyed earlier this week. The first was an old episode of the Brady Bunch. Remember when the whole gang traveled to the Grand Canyon and got locked up in a ghost town jail by a manic recluse gold prospector, but upon release Mrs. Brady and Alice exclaim that they are having a groovy start to a great vacation? Later they meet a Native American who without any hint of irony or offense uses the term "squaw" to describe the women in Mr. Brady's "tribe."

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Cultural Construct

The return of sublime ridiculous perfection: All My Children

By Patrice Johnson, Cultural Construct

September 23, 2011 was a sad day for me. I said last goodbyes to friends, er... characters I'd known since childhood as All My Children went off the air. Yesterday the citizens of Pine Valley returned to my life, this time via hulu and various other online sources.

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Cultural Construct

Girls' weekend, part two

By Patrice Johnson, Cultural Construct

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of sleet hitting the roof outside of my window, and snuggled deeper into the pillow I brought from home. In the morning we packed up the little white dog and headed to Grand Marais for some hiking over miles of icy paths that were covered with fresh snow. As we finished our two-hour hike the snow began again. It was wet and heavy and came down in clumps.

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Cultural Construct

Girls' weekend, part one

By Patrice Johnson, Cultural Construct

Hurling down 35W from the Twin Cities toward Duluth, through Duluth, past Duluth and on to Lutsen, my girlfriend K and I talked food. We talked about where we'd stop for a late lunch. We talked about what we'd be eating Saturday night at the Lutsen Resort Spring Wine Weekend. We talked about the groceries and wine packed in the trunk. It is good to have a bestie who not only understands your favorite obsession, but shares it.

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Cultural Construct

Cat blogging: Orson comes home

By Patrice Johnson, Cultural Construct

T turned 40 this year. He admitted he was feeling a sense of ... well, midlife angst. I wondered how he would deal with it. Would he find a girlfriend? A sports car? Golf? Around that time we visited our local Chuck and Don's which is where we buy Oskar's food (elderly Olive is on a prescribed diet) and T fell in love with an orange tabby. "He'd be a perfect playmate for Oskar!"

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Cultural Construct

Shoes in the city

By Patrice Johnson, Cultural Construct

So Sarah Jessica Parker is having foot problems. Spending 18-hour days in five-inch Manolo Blahniks during Sex and the City wasn't the problem. No, what really hurt SJP was a more recent movie shoot that had her donning cheap footwear. Realistically, explained SJP, my character wouldn't have worn really good (a.k.a. expensive) shoes. Apparently reality matters when it comes to wardrobe selection and compelling character development.

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Cultural Construct

Snow Day: A midwestern rite of passage

By Patrice Johnson, Cultural Construct

T was already in the shower at 5 AM when the phone rang with the message that the school where he teaches was proclaiming a SNOW DAY. I announced the news and he stuck his wet head out of the shower curtain bellowing "WHOO HOO!"

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Cultural Construct

Dinkytown progress and House of Hanson

By Patrice Johnson, Cultural Construct

On any given night there were six or seven of us in the second floor walk-up on 8th Street SE. The landlord advised that the attic wasn't up to code and not intended as a sleeping unit, but it was freshly painted and he didn't object when he discovered two of my roommates using the space as their bedroom. I was a freshman at the University of Minnesota and I felt as grown up as I ever did before or since. For $127.50 a month I had my own space in a drafty room between the kitchen and living room. We had a tiny square television, the size of a shoe box and the weight of an anvil, and we positioned it between a battered old couch and a garage sale La-Z-Boy. Nobody ever sat on the couch. The springs were loose and the long wires occasionally cut my legs when I walked past.

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Cultural Construct
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